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Burnt Umber

Encaustic paints have recently achieved popularity as an alternative to oil and acrylic paints. A very spontaneous and versatile medium, encaustics can be modeled, layered, sculpted, textured, and combined with collage materials. No drying time required.

Burnt Umber

Color Swatches created using varied application and were applied on primed hardboard material.

This color contains the following pigments:

PBr7—Burnt Umber

Pigment Type

earth

Chemical Name

iron oxides with manganese silicates or dioxide

Chemical Formula

Fe2O3,MnO2 or Fe2O3 + MnO2 + nH2O + Si + Al2O3

Properties

Burnt Umber is a more intense reddish brown pigment that results from heating the clay pigment Raw Umber. It has medium to excellent tinting strength and high opacity, and it is quick drying in oil form. Burnt Umber is somewhat more transparent than Raw Umber. It has excellent color properties and can create a variety of subtle, clear tints when mixed with white. It can tend towards chalkiness in dark mixes in oil form, but overall it mixes well with other colors. To create a black color in oil form, mix Burnt Umber with Phthalo Blue or Ultramarine. To achieve a similar color in watercolor form, mix it with Ultramarine or Payne's Gray.

Permanence

Burnt Umber has good permanence.

Toxicity

Burnt Umber itself is considered non-toxic. If contaminated by manganese compounds, it may be highly toxic if inhaled and moderately toxic if ingested.

History

This pigment gets its name from the Latin word umbra, meaning shadow or shade. Its full name is listed as terra di ombra, meaning earth of shadow/shade, due to its original extraction from the area of Umbria, Italy. It has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times. Currently, the finest umber comes from Cyprus.